Northeast freight rail service returning to normal

Freight operations in the Northeast are slowly returning to normal along the destruction path left by Hurricane Sandy.

Canadian Pacific said its operations received minimal impact and were recovering quickly.

"Some of our railway partners are experiencing delays and we are working with them to protect and expedite any traffic," CP said.

CP's Canadian terminal operations in Southern Ontario and Quebec remain open and the railroad is able to move shipments through the Port of Philadelphia. However, the Ports of New York/New Jersey remain closed.

Norfolk Southern rail operations continue to resume where the railroad deems them safe. While areas of lightly impacted by the storm have seen service return, NS is saying heavier impacted regions may not see service until the end of the week.

CSX has lifted the embargoes on all traffic to all locations and continues to restore service with a few exceptions. Those include: Intermodal shipments to Elizabeth Marine Terminal, Port Newark Container Terminal and New York Container Terminal and automobile shipments to Doremus, N.J.

"Service is resuming slowly, due to continued commercial power outages that affect CSX's signals and the inability of some customers to accept shipments. Heavy snow in the higher elevations of West Virginia also is complicating train operations, but that situation is expected to moderate over the next 24 hours," said CSX.